For the uninitiated, its not a whole festival dedicated to Kesha (no I’m not typing the S as a $) it’s actually Brisbane’s seminal breakbeat festival!
Second year in and they’re already on the expansion with more stages and an even bigger lineup. Highlight was definitely Beardyman with many notable mentions like Freq Nasty, Freestylers, Cuban Brothers and Soul of Man added to a day of great music and friendly faces.
Best of all the dismal weather of late held off for pretty much the whole day!
Blah blah blah Festival 2010 photos here
What a day! A proverbial rollercoaster ride of ups and downs, but it just goes to show that not even crazy torrential sideways rain can ruin a good vibe!
Much love to all those that turned up and showed their support for our talented locals!
We’ve already got some big plans for next years bash! In the meantime, stay tuned for spin off events đ
Shout out to all of those that made the event possible…
Production Team:
Lisa – Performances coordinator
Eve – Promo and marketing coordinator
Mel – Art cordinator
Kym – Production assistant and advisor
Knovell – MC and Stage manager
Sholto – Stage manager
John – Production manager
Dion – Production assistant
Alicia – Administration
Katie – Stall assistant
Sponsors:
Footlocker
3D World Magazine
Urban Wear
Postal Entertainment
Paul from Reliabledesigns.com.au – Banner and stickers
Dave from Speaker Wrath – Advertising material
Support the businesses that support you and your scene!
Stalls:
Postal Entertainment
Yungrif – designer tees
Andy DeLore – designer tees and canvas art
Eve – kicks
Nelson – kicks
Afro Denim – designer tees
Chamellieon – photo art, custom toy art
Ben – photo art
Ryan – kicks, bags, tees
Mystique
Urbanwear
(and of course the soulbridgemedia/Fresh Out stall with all the Kidrobot items đ )
If you want to chase up any items that you may have missed out on during the day, or couldnt make it on the day, give the sellers a yell on the Fresh Out facebook page.
Performers:
Kuts and Drops
Mark Lowndes
Cat Thompson
Gamarang
Fergie aka H1pe
Karmin Lyricist
Macbeth dance crew
Dastardly Kuts
Hopey1
Morgan Macmanus and Omegachild
Rola D
Yojay
Illkid
The Drone Tree
Elements dance crew
[clone]
Like what you heard/saw on the day? Add your favourite performers and get along to their next gig for a full set!
And finally James and all the top staff and organisers of the Chinatown Mall and Markets!
Fresh Out 2010 Festival photos here
The rain managed to hold off for most of it and stage closures were kept to a minimum, win win!
Highlight photos for Parklife 2010 Brisbane here
Whoa! SBM all up in your biz this week!
Starting with Parklife Festival coverage, from Groove Armada’s torch flashing antics to Missy Elliott’s bedazzled sneakers, it was all happening!
The next DJ from our X & Y bar shoot is K-Time.
Check him out in the Social Club section and the full write up of Parklife in this weekâs issue #1030.
Get it FREE from all the usual street press outlets or read it online @ 3D world magazine – Brisbane
In other news, >Fresh Out 2010 – Concrete Culture Festival hosted by SBM is happening this weekend! Music, dance, art, fashion, its all covered! Sneakers, designer toys and local artists and designers, giveaways and more!
Get on down to the Chinatown Mall in Fortitude Valley (Brisbane) from 9-4pm for all the fun!
Steve Aoki, Joachim Garraud, Crookers, Laidback Luke, Felix da Housecat, Mark Schulz and Gareth Emery headline a one of our very few winter festivals for a day of electro, trance, fidget and house.
Winter Sound System Brisbane photos here
Inokashira Park, Kichijoji, Tokyo
Kichijoji is not really a major stop on the usual Tokyo itinerary, well unless of course youâre a sneaker nut, as its home to the famed K-Skit store đ otherwise, its a rather small (comparatively) âsuburbâ lying on the Chuo Line off the JR Yamanote line (change at Shinjuku station). Make sure you catch the right train though, âRapidâ (express) services skip the smaller stops, Kichijoji being one of them. Check the sign on the platform, it shows the stops the train will make. If youâre still not sure you are on the right one after youâve boarded, just check the in-train route map displaying the stops.
Getting off at Kichijoji station is a far cry from the bustle of Shibuya, which also matches the slightly more laid back feel of the suburb. Its CBD area is quite a bit smaller, but in saying that it still measurable to Brisbaneâs own CBD, complete with pedestrian mall. However one thing Brisbane is missing, is a lake surrounded by cherry blossoms!
Inokashira Park, Kichijoji, Tokyo
Inokashira Park is a couple hundred metres walk from the station and is completed with numerous walking paths, foot bridges, temple and my personal favourite, water craft for hire in the form of paddle boats and row boats. 600Y gets you 30min of water time in a paddler (less for a row boat, those of you above 170cm might want to consider the row boat as the paddlers cater more for children and the fibreglass seats arenât particularly well contoured), which is more than enough time to leisurely work your way round the northern half of the lake and to take in the surroundings re: paddle beneath the blossoms trees arching into the water. Try and get there before 10am, as the lake can quickly get cluttered with traffic making it difficult to dodge those trying to grasp the concept of oars and inertia.
The park itself seems quite popular with the locals for picnickers and artists alike, even more so during Sakura season. It also has a small zoo, museum and temple if you can pull yourself away from the blankets of blossoms.
Heading back up one of the main thoroughfares, after 11am, many of the little shops, cafes and street vendors will start to open. There is also a Starbucks for those missing a âtaste of homeâ and a couple sneaker shops with prices up to 1-2000Y cheaper for similar items in the more built up areas. But save your Yen because weâre heading to K-Skit. A block from the main street and about two from the station it is tucked away in a smaller lane on the 3rd floor but thereâs a large sign on the footpath, clearly visible if youâre coming from the station side.
The store is wall to wall, floor to ceiling of sneakers all neatly shrink wrapped and focuses mostly on pre-owned Nikes. Condition ranges from beaters and models that are so old theyâre literally falling apart to owned but never worn and brand new. Variety is almost endless, itâs a certainty that you will see a colourway or model that youâve never seen before. The shelves are sorted by brand/model with a high concentration on Air Force series, Dunks and Jordans. Shoes with multiple tags show the sizes available and their cost. Popular sizes (sz 9-11) on the rarer models are usually more.
Weaving through the narrow aisles you will see sections for other brands like Adidas, Reebok and Timberland along with glass cases for the antique sneakers and the super rares. Staff are friendly and are happy to let you try shoes on, thereâs just no where to sit while you do it! I picked up a pair of 2007 Nike Air Force 1 Baltimore 410 âIs Mr. shoe in?â limited editions for only 9000Y (~$100US). Not bad when you consider Footlocker AU hocks current garden varieties for $120-160AU!
Itâs a good idea to hit up their website a couple weeks before you arrive to get an idea of whatâs in stock. New stock and their âprice downâ section is updated daily with complete transparency of condition eg. âcracks in upperâ, âyellowing of midsoleâ along with clear detailed photos of the tell tale wear areas such as the sole and inside heal, nothing like the sneaker forums or ebay where âworn about 3 timesâ really means âworn about 3 yearsâ.
If youâre big on vintage clothing there are several shops in the surrounding block, like Ragtag. Otherwise you can venture north under the train line to LA Avenue. Kind of like the baby brother of K-Skit but with a bit of clothing and a few accessories like G-Shock watches. Of course I couldn’t let a 1995 Guassman in mint condition and original box go begging for only 4500Y đ
Another block north and youâll find a 2 level Nike store, an Adidas store, a bunch of little restaurants, cafes, tea houses and burger bars along with the aforementioned mall which houses another Yodobashi Camera store.
Shinjuku
Another big station in another very built up area. The highlights here are camera stores, Yodobashi, Bic, Map, all with in a couple blocks of the station or in the station itself and a few large department stores with the focus towards young women (especially the stores inside the station). The main reason why we stopped here is for the Tokyo Metro buildings, about 600m west of the station towards Shinjuku central park. Two towers with a free observation deck on the 45th floor and opened till 11pm most nights (check the daily times on their site, certain days each month, one building is closed while the other is open), unfortunately on the day we were there, visibility was very poor, down to a few hundred meters at times. It looked like a mixture of low cloud, fog, haze and the usual smog, so it was scratched from the itinerary, still comes recommended as one of the best and cheapest views of Tokyo.
South east of these buildings is Shinjuku Gyoen, a much larger park with feature gardens, recreational paths and water features, another ideal place for Hanami (blossom viewing).
Also while in Shinjuku, look south once youâve cleared the sky scrapers and you will see the Docomo building, one of Tokyoâs tallest buildings.
Tokyo part #1 – Ueno for a day
Tokyo part #2 – Getting round Tokyo, Ueno Sakura at night
Tokyo part #3 – Harajuku
Tokyo part #4 – Shibuya
Tokyo part #6 – Akihabara
Tokyo part #7 – Odaiba and Leaving Tokyo
Photo Gallery Here
Moshi moshi!
Well the 10 days or so (who knows with all that date line crossing and red eye flights) in the USA flew by and we were back in the T-Y-O. This time a bit more confident of where we needed to go and what we needed to do to get there.
First up, some tips for traveling by public transport in Japan. Buy either a PASMO (pink and blue) or Suica (green) card from the vendor offices round the airport terminal (basically the “metro card” equivalent for any major city). The company colours are also painted round the respective ticketing machines so its easy to spot them when you need to top up your card. We chose Suica cos it had a penguin on it đ
The card is 2000Y and comes with 1500Y credit (roughly $20/15US respectively) and can be used on pretty much all public transport in Tokyo and a fair portion of Japan. If you take the Keisei Limited express train from Narita airport this will cost you 1000Y and will take you all the way to Ueno (end of the line). The trip takes about 75min and can get quite crowded. Taking your backpack off and throwing it up in the luggage rack helps save space and your shoulders when you’re standing.
If you want a more luxurious experience with reclining seats, luggage areas, vending machines and a saving of about 10-15min off your journey time then take the Keisei Skyliner. All seating is reserved so check your ticket for your seat number. The premium is double what you pay for the standard ride but it is nice to have a metal bottle of Pepsi and a nap without being squashed up against some stranger or having them fall asleep on you. Even during peak hour it was only half full.
You will also find the PASMO and Suica cards work in a variety of businesses. Convenience stores, take aways, some restaurants, duty free and shops in the airport/train stations, handy if you haven’t had a chance to track down a Travelex which will more than likely happen. They are few and far between, so you might want to cash up at the airport or hit the Travelex site for locations. While a lot of the little market stores have EFTPOS, as it goes for traveling anywhere its always good to have a bit of the folding stuff on hand, just in case.
Generally, getting round Tokyo, if you stick to the JR Yamanote line you really can’t go wrong, just make sure you’re heading in the direction you want to go!
Back into it, I like to think I’ve got a pretty good sense of direction and have no problems reading a map, but when people say “Japanese streets can get confusing” believe them and again, don’t trust Google maps!! Some streets are lanes that look like drive ways, some lanes ARE driveways that go the whole block and a lot of them are poorly signed/unsigned. Travel tip: if you don’t know where you are, you won’t know where you’re going!
So misjudging a bend for a corner we set off on a lovely 45min walk in the wrong direction with 2 heavy suitcases each in tow. After some backtracking and cross tracking we still managed to over shoot the hotel wandering the backstreets in it’s surrounding blocks. Thankfully that renowned Japanese hospitality and courtesy to strangers shone through with locals more than happy to help point us in the right direction. One lady out for a cycle with her toddler on board even circled around a couple times to make sure we were heading the right way. Very much a refreshing and welcomed change compared to the States where you couldn’t even pay for good help, and more than often you had to, even for the most remedial of requests!
But I digress. That night we headed back out to the park, noting on our way in how close we were to the station (bout 15min walk) and how wrong we got it. Though its always nice after a walk around to start spotting familiar landmarks/areas.
By now the majority of blossoms were well in bloom and so were the festivities. Families and people of all ages gathered under the trees on tarps and blankets for the Sakura celebration, most completely oblivious to the mercury barely staying in the positives (though a down filled Northface parka does help with that!). There were even areas roped off and set up as makeshift restaurants, complete with boxes for tables and cushions.
With more than 1000 trees in full bloom, Ueno park looked like it was dusted in icing sugar. Truly beautiful.
Tokyo part #1 – Ueno for a day
Tokyo part #3 – Harajuku
Tokyo part #4 – Shibuya
Tokyo part #5 – Kichijoji and Shinjuku
Tokyo part #6 – Akihabara
Tokyo part #7 – Odaiba and Leaving Tokyo
Photo Gallery Here
Over the next month or so, I’ll be summarising our recent holiday to Tokyo, Los Angeles and New York City. Posts will include our personal highlights along with tidbits of info on general travel and sight seeing in these cities and of course tips on shopping, most notably sneakers and toys (:
Pour yourself a nice warm glass of Saki, first city up is Tokyo.
Once seen as only the country that made cars and tv’s, the land of the rising sun has long shed its industrial stereotypes and has been recognised as one of the world’s leaders in fashion. Most notably heavily influencing Australia’s own fashion sense since the turn of the millennium, however to us here at SBM, fashion is dead and its all about the toys! ;D
We had a day stop over on the way to the USA so instead of getting loosing our minds in the airport for 12 hours we did a quick scouting mission in to Ueno. This worked well as this was not long where we were staying for 4 days on our way home, but also home to one of the biggest blossom festival areas in Tokyo.
Walking through Ueno park (up the stairs between Ueno and KeiSei stations) we saw the festivities were just beginning with stalls and decorations being set up. Most of the trees showed little signs of blooming except for the one at the entrance which had its full bloom on display giving us a teaser of what was to come.
We checked out the Ameyoko markets under the train line and surrounding blocks from Ueno station, which later became our savior for a last minute suitcase purchase when we realised that we went way overboard with the Boxing day style of shopping, but more on that later.
Across the road from the station is Yamashiroya, 6 floors of toys, games, anime, collectibles and everything to make you feel like a kid again. You could easily spent half a day in there with a limited vocabulary of “awesome!”, “awww that’s SO cute”, “wtf???” and “I don’t care, I’m buying it”. Of course with that kind of diminished rational we walked away with a pillow sized Kirby plush and Revoltech Yamaguchi figure set without any thought of the frustration that we’d endure from lugging them tens of thousands of miles across the globe in the coming weeks.
Just before we headed back, we walked a few blocks south towards Akihabara to find a sneaker trader called Buy Sell (Ueno). Their stock isn’t huge like K-Skit (but who’s is??) but they have a decent selection of new and used (in various conditions) sneakers, clothing and accessories. Definitely one of the bigger selections of clothing compared to similar sneaker shops.
If you’ve been into sneakers for even the shortest amount of time you will know that there’s no real holy grail out there and there’s no one store that sells all the “best” models. It’s all just a matter of how deep your pockets are and if you’re willing to not pay rent for a month or 2. That said, they still had a few of the rare exotic models along side cheap dunks in colourways not available in Oz. Check out their frequently changing stock listing on their site, updated regularly.
A side note which I wasn’t going to go into (out of embarrassment!) but will as a courtesy for future travelers to Japan – not all signs that sprout “anime” and have cartoon caricatures are toy stores. You’ll know as soon as you step in the door, the over abundance of middle age to elderly men, the curtained cubicles with shoes and pants at the door, possibly someone snoring, oh and the wall to wall of Manga p0rn aka Hentai! Don’t know what the local name for these places are, but it seems pretty much like a self service library if you will. If you’re female or are traveling with one, you’ll be met with an abrupt “no no, men only!!”. Say no more, reading you loud and clear buddy!
Here’s an example just around the corner from Yamashiroya
Moral of the story, don’t trust google maps! While it can guess within 50m as it says “approximate”, take heed! Unless of course you can read Japanese, then just back away slowly, you were never here.
Tokyo part #2 – Getting round Tokyo, Ueno Sakura at night
Tokyo part #3 – Harajuku
Tokyo part #4 – Shibuya
Tokyo part #5 – Kichijoji and Shinjuku
Tokyo part #6 – Akihabara
Tokyo part #7 – Odaiba and Leaving Tokyo
Photo Gallery Here
Whoa! what a messy (of the dirty kind!) day that was! Contender for worse festival weather since Good Vibes 2009 but just as fun all the same.
Complete gallery coming soon.
What a day of nostalgic fun! The 90s was definitely the best decade for music and the headlining acts proved they still had it!
